But despite owning 2.2 million acres there, John Malone has made Ireland his home-from-home over the past decade. The first was the cable provider UPC – later to become part of Virgin Media Ireland. Paul Farrell was vice-president of commercial at Virgin Media Ireland when Malone and the rest of his board came to Ireland in 2018. Farrell and the Virgin Media team presented Malone with the plan to rebrand TV3 as Virgin Media Television and to seek “synergies” between it and the broadband business. In the room that day in 2018 was Liberty Global chief executive, and Malone’s right-hand man, Mike Fries – who will assume the role of chairman in 2026.
